Tennis: Mavericks fall just short in bid

TENNIS

JEFF JENKINS, CHRONICLE CORRESPONDENT |
May 19, 2009

The St. John’s girls tennis team nearly pulled off a major upset at the Southwest Preparatory Conference Championships in Dallas earlier this month.

After back-to-back seasons in Division II, the Mavericks battled all the way to the Division I finals and nearly won the title, falling to Dallas Greenhill 3-2 in the title match.

“There were probably six good teams in the SPC this year that were all pretty close,” said St. John’s head coach Sandy McLanahan. “I thought we had a chance to do well.”

St. John’s opened the tourney with a 3-2 victory over Tulsa Holland Hall before beating Dallas Hockaday 4-1 in the semifinals.

McLanahan said the postponement of SPC competition due to the swine flu scare probably worked to the Mavericks’ advantage.

“We were fortunate to have our full team,” McLanahan said. “Hockaday was missing its No. 2 singles player. That probably helped us in our match against them.”

But St. John’s showed plenty of determination and stamina, playing three dual matches in one day.

Junior Ann Hewitt had the unenviable task of holding down the No. 1 singles spot. Although Hewitt was shut out at SPCs, she split her six South Zone matches.

“When you play No. 1, you’re going to run into some outstanding players,” McLanahan said. “Ann did a tremendous job and was very competitive.”

Sophomore Jodi Rybarczyk performed consistently well at No. 2 singles. Rybarczyk was a perfect 6-0 in the South Zone and won her first two matches at SPCs before injuries took their toll.

“At SPCs, Jodi had a torn Achilles tendon and wrist problems, but she showed a lot of guts,” McLanahan said. “She’s an up-and-coming player with a bright future ahead of her.”

Rounding out the singles line-up was sophomore Claire Nuchtern. The youngster was 4-2 in South Zone competition and swept all three matches at SPCs.

“Claire is the one who probably got us going,” McLanahan said. “Against Austin St. Stephen’s, she won a three-hour match 7-6 in the third (set). That really set the tone for the rest of the season.”

Holding down the No. 1 doubles spot as senior captain Gracie Fraser and freshman Tarika Khaladkar. The Fraser-Khaladkar duo was automatic; they went 5-1 in the South Zone and 3-0 at SPCs.

“Gracie was a singles player in the past, but we decided to turn her into a doubles specialist,” McLanahan said. “It couldn’t have worked out any better. Gracie and Tarika really clicked. They’re both great volleyers.”

The No. 2 doubles team was the all-senior tandem of Christian Woo and Catherine Fondren. Woo shared captain duties with Fraser.

Woo and Fondren won only one of their three matches at SPCs, but they notched a 4-2 record against South Zone foes.

“We wouldn’t have made it this far without them,” McLanahan said.

The jump to Division I runner-up wasn’t that far for St. John’s. The Mavericks won the Division II crown in 2007 and made the Division II finals last year, losing to Kinkaid.

“We were very close to making it to Division I both years,” McLanahan said. “We were able to pull out a few matches. We made our own luck.”

With four of his top seven players coming back, McLanahan hopes St. John’s can make another serious run at the SPC Division I crown in 2010.

“Our players are really excited and are already talking about next year,” McLanahan said. “As long as they put in the work on the practice court, anything’s possible.”